


Rabbit Hole Day

by Elaewin



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen, Literary References & Allusions, Old LJ stuff, River makes perfect sense to herself, Siblings, early in the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 01:51:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14438928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elaewin/pseuds/Elaewin
Summary: River sees things that other people don't. Set somewhere in the first few episodes, perhaps just after Bushwhacked.





	Rabbit Hole Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for the 2nd LiveJournal Rabbit Hole Day, on January 27th, 2006 (Lewis Carroll's birthday).

She wasn’t sure when she noticed it. Perhaps it was on one of her trips from her room to the infirmary. Or perhaps it was on the return trip--much faster--via the passenger’s head where she threw up all of the medicine that Simon had given her. 

No, that couldn’t be it. She could remember seeing it: a tiny hole, barely large enough for a small girl to slither through (but she was a girl, wasn’t she?) There was no smell of vomit in her memory. No smell in her head all made up of her brother’s fear and frustration and anger. Just the taste of curiosity, without bile for once, or the feel of needles in her skin.

The rabbit, though...that had to be the drugs.

“Reminisces of childhood. Half-remembered stories. Mythology. Gets in the brain, remember it years later. Just old memories, like old coats hung up for the winter and forgotten. Moth-eaten memories, like dining on fine cashmere.” 

That earned her a sharp stare from Jayne, and a pained look from Simon, who wanted to lead her back to the infirmary. But his, “Come, _mei mei_ ,” was less compelling than the rabbit, so she twisted her arm out of his grasp and ran after the small white tail that vanished ahead of her into the cargo bay. 

A part of her brain noted that he’d been wearing a vest like one of Simon’s, even though that was impossible.

“Rabbits don’t wear waistcoats,” she informed Simon, when he came panting up after her. He tried again to get her to come to the infirmary with him. But she was comfortable where she was, perched on the edge of a catwalk with her feet dangling into space, so Simon faded away.

The rabbit had stopped running. He was standing near Jayne’s weight bench, going through the pockets of his vest, looking for something.

“Time doesn’t matter out here,” River told him. One furry ear swiveled in her direction, and he gave her an impatient twitch of the nose. 

“Oh.” She understood now. “So it’s the principle of time? Milliseconds, and seconds, and minutes, and hours all tied up in a fancy watch? You _know_ that time is an arbitrary measure, you just don’t care.”

The rabbit nodded to her. He’d stopped searching, and now held a polished silver pocket watch in one tiny hand. His eyes were brown and soft, but she felt the intensity of his gaze traveling through the hold. It tingled on her skin like a breath of air, or someone walking by on the other side of a wall. Very deliberately, the rabbit moved over to the hole. 

River felt a sudden surge of triumph as she realized that this _was_ where she’d seen it, after all.

The rabbit beckoned, so River stood and floated down to him. He was crouched now, about to move through the hole. He held out one white hand, and she looked at it for a moment before reaching out and taking it. A inquisitive look came over the rabbit’s face and flowed down his arm, tingling on her fingertips. 

River sighed. “I can’t follow a mythological creature. I wouldn’t know where to put my feet, because I haven’t learned that dance yet. ‘Off with her head’ may sound grand, but mine’s already been taken away and put back. The Queen wouldn’t like that. 

“And besides, Simon would worry.”

The rabbit nodded his understanding. With a final flick of his tail, he disappeared down the rabbit hole, which faded slowly away behind him.

**Author's Note:**

>  _mei mei_ \- little sister.
> 
> Someone told me once that River was hard to write. But to me, River is the *easy* one to write. She's very stream of consciousness, and she just expresses those weird mental tangets that "normal" people mentally glance at and then ignore.


End file.
